Public Multichannel Management – an Integrated Framework of Off- and Online Multichannel Government Services

Government institutions have introduced multichannel environments over time following trends and technological innovations. These public multichannel environments often neglect specific channel characteristics and potentials and thus miss the opportunity to make full use of a strategic channel integration and combination with a focus on customer value creation. This study offers a systematic approach to establish an integrated public multichannel system not only taking into account user preferences, habits and their environment, but also the respective channel issuer and the characteristics of channels and public interfaces. Against this background, the study presents a systematic approach to expand services and channels according to their capacities, and provides academics and practitioners with a framework on public multichannel strategies.     

Civil Society Organisations in Research: A Literature-Based Typology

This article explores literatures from various sources to highlight and understand differences among key players surrounding the perceived nature and role of civil society in research from different literature streams. Including Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in research activities is an integral part of a broad drive towards integration of science and society. Interest in CSO inclusion in research is widespread, but lacks a coherent focus and clarity on what CSOs are. Without this clarity, CSO-inclusive research, or policy, may be ineffective. This article addresses this gap in knowledge by presenting findings from an exploration of academic, policy and research project literature in order to come to a view on CSOs in research. This culminates in a typology of CSOs and provides a means of identifying types of CSOs. The typology shows four main types of CSO (common cause, shared voice, research-oriented, commercially oriented) and provides a definition for each type, along with a basis for the definition; an example of each; some typical terminology; typical area of activity; properties; typical mission; key areas of interest and their ‘action logic’ in research.     

Die Akzeptanz der elektronischen Gesundheitskarte in Deutschland

Against the background of the increasing importance of eHealth, this contribution concentrates on the issue of acceptance regarding the introduction of the electronic health card (English for elektronische Gesundheitskarte, hereinafter referred to as eHC) on the part of the service providing health institutions. After presenting the general issue, the relevance of the subject is described and the eHC is defined. Then the eHC is classified in terms of terminology and afterwards the current state of research of investigations regarding acceptance in the field of eHC is presented and evaluated. Based on both the technology acceptance model and the relevant literature, the important factors influencing the attitude towards and the eventual use of the eHC are conceptualized and integrated in an investigation model. The empirical investigation took place throughout Germany within the scope of an online survey of the health care providers. All in all, 502 questionnaires were reflected in the evaluation of the willingness of acceptance. The empirical results show that regarding the perceived usefulness the performance of the system and a well balanced cost-/benefit-ratio lead to an increasing acceptance of the eHC. Being integrated in the decision process, however, is not relevant for the German physicians. Within the context of the perceived ease of use the compatibility of the system is much less relevant than the controllability or the general usability.     

A correlation-theoretical interpretation of schur analysis

This paper is heavily leaned on the author's recent investigations concerning SCHUR analysis of non-negative Hermitian block matrices. The parameters of the matrix balls and the triangular choice scheme which describe a non-negative Hermitian block matrix will be interpreted in the framework of correlation theory     

Comparing public attitudes toward providing for the livelihood of the elderly in two aging societies: Germany and Japan

Using an ordered logit model on representative survey data, we study attitudes about who should provide for the livelihood of the elderly in two aging societies—Germany and Japan. We find that in both countries, those with higher income are more inclined toward the private option, whereas age has the opposite effect. Part-time work status negatively (positively) affects the inclination toward a government-based pension system in Japan (Germany). Other significant influences are the pensioner status of the respondents in Japan and specific left-wing party support in the case of Germans.     

Respect,equality, and power: A social psychological perspective

In this article I outline a principled social psychological approach to respect. As a first definitional approximation, I suggest that respect for someone involves the willingness to include that person as a factor in the psychological equation underlying self-regulation. I then review and discuss the fairly recent, but thriving, career of the notion of respect in social psychological research, with particular emphasis on intragroup respect. Next, I turn to conceptual specification and purification necessary for a principled approach to respect and discuss promising efforts to identify the critical social psychological principle or active ingredient of respect. In particular, I make out a case for an equality-based conception of respect in which recognition as an equal plays a central role. The final section examines further theoretical and practical implications of this conception including its relation and relevance to issues of social power. Bernd Simon (Dipl.-Psych., Dr. habil.) is Professor of Social Psychology and Evaluation Research and one of the Directors of the Institute of Psychology at the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel (Germany). He studied psychology, sociology and philosophy at the University of Münster (Germany) and the University of Kent at Canterbury (England). In his research, Bernd Simon investigates inter-and intragroup processes, with particular emphasis on issues of identity, power, politicization and respect. He is author/co-author of a number of research articles in international journals and books, including Identity in Modern Society (Blackwell Publishing).